"What will make, and is actually already making AR big, is the great ability to make everything more engaging," said Mirko Ferrari, head of business development at AR developer Inglobe. In a world blessed with AR, Ferrari says people will do a lot of interacting with buildings -- "whether they are homes, stores, hospitals or cultural attractions" -- with the flick of an eye. There are also workplace applications, with an AR-based "smart helmet" for industrial workers already being designed by a company called Daqri. Suppose a worker is trying to fix a pipe. His boss, in another room but also wearing a smart visor, can add notes and directions that will appear in real-time over the worker's vision. That worker could then add a note to the pipe, such as "crack fixed here", which can then be seen by anyone working on it in the future.
"But wait," you may be thinking, "no matter how great AR is, I don't want to walk around with a bulky visor or headset." And you'd be right, Companies are already thinking far into the future, Samsung, big w waterproof iphone case for instance, in 2014 filed a patent for smart contact lenses that work with AR, Pairing with a phone, the South Korean electronics giant envisions you being able to make commands by blinking or simply looking, No headwear required, Imagine living with all this instantaneous information, Compared to that neon future, the pre-AR world we're living in now is practically a primitive nightmare..
In 2012, Google released a concept video for Google Glass, a spectacle-style AR headset. Showing off some of the futuristic technology outlined above, its unveiling was a legitimate "wow, we're living in the future" moment. Sadly, when Glass was released in 2013, it didn't make nearly the splash it should have. "There was no ecosystem to support the evolution of the product," said Pavel Naiya, an analyst at Counterpoint Research. "It was breakthrough technology but way ahead of its time."Plus, there were also understandably privacy concerns about glasses that could take pictures and record video.
While the tech behind Google Glass was fascinating, there were never enough apps to take advantage of it, Google Glass is now being repurposed for healthcare, manufacturing and energy industries, according to a WSJ report, and Google has done its best to scrub all remnants of Glass 1.0 from the internet, Meanwhile, Microsoft last April brought out a developer's edition of its HoloLens AR headset, However, big w waterproof iphone case the $3,000 cost keeps it in the realm of designers, and the company has been tight-lipped about when we can expect to see the HoloLens on store shelves..
Then there's Magic Leap, which is the dark horse on the scene. Co-founder Rony Abovitz has promised big things, including technology that uses light sensors in your brain. But the project has had some issues, such as misleading concept videos, which oversold the product with awe-inspiring graphics, and rumours of underdeveloped technology. Finally, the first phone with Google's Tango AR platform, the Lenovo Phab 2 Pro, was a thick, heavy dud with undeveloped apps and games. Not a racing start for Google's AR ambitions.
